So, I haven't really had much time to write... let's see what I can do today.
After we got back from our amazingly fun and incredibly adventurous (kidding) road trip, Morgane and I spent a couple of days in Vancouver before she had to fly out to Toronto and then back to France. I even tried Sushi - and, considering that I only tried it once when I was 15 and HATED it with a passion, I think I can be quite proud of myself for giving it another chance. I'm still not a big fan, but at least now I consider it okay food, and I anyone ever INSISTED on going to a Sushi place with me, I'd find something I could eat.
After Morgane left (on the 2nd of june), I took the ferry over to Victoria, B.C.'s capital, located on the beautiful Vancouver Island. Originally, I had planned to stay for 3 nights, but it ended up being 6... I hadn't stayed in one place for longer than 1-2 nights since mid-april - I just needed a tiny break from the constant moving around. Also, the place I wanted to go to next was supposed to have snow the time that I planned to be there, and since everything you CAN do there is outdoors, it really didn't make much sense to go. So I postponed it for a couple of days. Victoria is a nice little city - except for the drug addicts... much like Vancouver, really.
(the Legislative Building in Victoria by night... some 3000 lightbulbs)
They like the mild climate. I took a free tour of the Legislative Building, lay down in a park to read a book (!), walked around the city, went to the Royal B.C. Museum (very interesting), and (even more interesting and SO much fun!): to the Bug Zoo. Basically a place where they have a lot of (fairly big) bugs - you know, spiders, a praying mantis, giant millipedes, that sort of thing :) So I got to hold a millipede that (curled up) was slightly bigger than the palm of my hand and whose feet felt like a little hard brush moving across your skin. And other animals, too... By the time we left there, I actually LIKED bugs!
Millipede - pretty cool, eh?
Oh, right, I forgot. I met a couple of people at the hostel. A German girl who was there for work and travel, and then a Korean girl (Han Im), an English guy, Will, and finally a French guy named Thomas who was planning to ried through the Coastal Mountains on his bike and camp there, and had brought neither a warm sleeping bag nor any warm clothes to speak of - since it was summer, he thought! I really hope he didn't freeze to death... Anyway, so I ended up spending a day with the latter 3. In the evening, we went on a tour of the city called "Ghostly Walks". Basically, they walk you around the city and tell you ghost stories and stories about (supposedly) haunted houses! The two guys who were doing it are (when they're not doing the tour) actors for a theater company in Victoria or play historical figures in the Legislative Building where they walk up to visitors to yell at them or the like. So, long story short, they did a REALLY good job, it was very entertaining! :)
I also went hiking one day with a man in his 60's or 70's who works for Parks Canada, Colin. He told us a lot about the island, vegetation and animals, as well as the Natives' history etc. Also, he had quite the life, being navigator on the Canadian equivalent of the Air Force Once, or doing Search&Rescue for ships in the Arctic. Very interesting.
On the 8th, I finally got on the ferry and eventually the overnight bus to Lake Louise, Alberta: bye bye, B.C., hello again, Rocky Mountains.. and a different time zone, once more. Canada has six of them... although I wouldn't exactly count Newfoundland time, because (for some reason) it's only HALF an hour ahead of Nova Scotia time... I don't understand. Oh, well. And I've been to all of them (time zones, I mean) in the past 2,5 months... plus one more, since we went to Alaska and that has a time zone of its own.
Lake Louise is very pretty - not so much the town, since there's not that much there, but the scenery is stunning, even when it's grey and rainy (as it was when I was there). Most of the trails you can hike were still closed because of snow, one because of a grizzly bear and her two cubs... but I made due with what was open and safe, and had a pretty good time doing that! I also went horseback riding up to Lake Agnes (which is still three quarters frozen), which saved me from having to walk up that steep trail myself, heehe. I really enjoyed it - except for the moment when my horse got itchy and decided it would be a good idea to walk us off the side of a cliff. It took me a while to convince it that that was NOT the best idea, and by that time we were already starting to slide downwards, with only two hooves left on the trail. Quite the adrenaline rush. But we survived, and I don't hold it against the horse... too much. Had it done that anywhere else I would have laughed at it, but, in this instance, we were on a mountain trail and the prancing around got us close to falling down the cliff! Still, a very nice ride, very nice guides... and a very experienced and fun-to-ride horse.
Me on the horse (Champ was his name)... and, again, a computer that won't let me turn the picture. Sorry.
The people at the hostel were extremely nice, I (tried to) watch Germany play Croatia on the TV in the Cafe, but we all thought it was the later game, so we missed it. But I had a really nice conversation with the night security guy who had dropped in for coffee until my bus left at 4:30, and one of the waitresses I met again later (in Calgary), which was also quite nice. Nice people, the people of Lake Louise.
After Lake Louise, I wanted to go straight to Calgary, but stopped in touristy Banff instead, which is on the way. Again, much like Lake Louise, a small town in the middle of the Rockies. But this one is PACKED with tourists, for the skiing in the winter and for hiking and their own hot springs in the summer. Crazy. I went on a nice hike there, though, met a nice girl from England (who I watched some Soccer with), and saw a snake - so it was worth it to stop for two nights. The weather was also fairly nice, which made it so much better.
Case in point: Banff, Rockies, beautiful weather.
And, the snake... okay, now I'm just trying to put in more pictures to balance out the HUGE amounts of text I'm producing. Seriously.
After Banff I made it to Calgary - which was the first place I've been on this whole trip that made me nervous. LOTS of drunk people (the homeless, jobless kind), very in-your-face. I felt quite uncomfortable. Also, over the weekend, the downtown area is practically dead (except for said drunk people). It only came to life on monday, when people came in from the suburbs to go to work. What WAS nice about Calgary, though, was the Olympic Park. The had the Olympic Winter Games there in 1988, and the park is still there, not only as a training ground for athletes, but also for visitors. So I walked around there for a bit with a guy I met in the hostel (also German), Nick, we took the elevator up to the top of the ski jump tower, that sort of stuff. it was quite interesting. These were the Olympic Games where the Jamaican bobsleigh team had a fairly serious accident. Also the movie "Cool Runnings" was filmed on the premises later (since it is about exactly that Jamaican team at the Olympic Games).
Canada Olympic Park, Calgary - host of the Olympic Winter Games in 1988
See that big one? That's where we went up. Seriously, I do NOT understand how anyone in their right mind would voluntarily jump off THAT with just a pair of skis on!
But, then again... YIPPIEEEE!!!!
Regina was the next (very short) stop on my way back East... only 24 hours. I took the overnight Greyhound from Calgary and got into Regina at 8 in the morning, where I checked into the hostel that turned out to be a adorable little old heritage house. I walked around the city for a bit, which is nice enough, they have a BEAUTIFUL park and a quite nice Old Government House. I took a tour there, too, and afterwards chatted with the tour guide (who's originally from Quebec) and the guy at the front desk (who was a bus driver for Greyhound for 35 years) for a while... they had some interesting stories to tell! Then I took the Greyhound to Winnipeg the next day, not overnight, for a change. For the first 5 hours I sat next to a girl who had just come back from a church convention in Israel - interesting. And, again, a time zone change.
Winnipeg is considerably bigger than Regina, and busier, too. Here, I slowed down a little more. I had booked three nights (because I didn't want to get back into Toronto before sunday), and spent my time walking around the city and along the river. They have a whole park with big bear sculptures they painted according to themes: like the "aurora bearealis" or the "prairie bear"... what's it with Canadians and this need to put up weird statues and monuments everywhere they can?! I haven't figured that out yet. I just know I've seen examples of it everywhere I went.
hm... I don't know, really. Construction bear, maybe?
So that's it, pretty much. Tomorrow I'll hop on the bus back to Toronto (1 day and 7 hours... heaven *sigh*), and then I wom't do much - see some people again, go to my favorite places, repack my things for the flight back home... I most likely will make a day trip to Niagara Falls, since I haven't been there yet and it's quite close to Toronto, really. And I MIGHT drive up to Ottawa for 1-2 days, but I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to fit that into my "schedule" ;)
Yup.. and then I'll hop back on a plane to Germany on July 4th. So, I guess I will see you guys (most of you anyway) in two weeks?... Or maybe a little after that :)
Wow, that will be strange, going back... we'll see how that works out!! :)
Looking forward to seeing you guys!
Take care!
